EAST PIKELAND — The hot air balloon pilot who died Sunday morning was killed by a neck injury sustained in the course of falling out of the balloon’s basket, according to the Chester County Coroner’s Office.

An autopsy Tuesday confirmed that Jeffrey Hooten, a balloonist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, died of an injury he sustained to his neck.

The manner of death was ruled “accidental,” according to a spokesperson with the coroner’s office.

East Pikeland Police said Hooten was coming in for a landing around 7:20 a.m. in a field near the intersection of Hunsberger Road and South Wall Street. As a part of normal landing procedure, a hot air balloon’s pilot must pull a rope which “deflates the balloon,” according to police.

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In the course of reaching for that rope, “he fell from the balloon and got caught between the balloon basket and the ground,” a police release said Monday.

Hooten later died at Phoenixville Hospital.

Riders in the balloon with Hooten believed he might have had a heart attack, which contributed to his death.

The autopsy showed no trace of a heart attack, according to the coroner’s office spokesperson.